Courage.
What makes a King out of a slave? Courage.
What makes the flag on the mast to wave? Courage.
What makes the elephant charge his tusk in the misty mist or the dusky
dusk?
What makes the muskrat guard his musk? Courage.
What makes the Sphinx the 7th Wonder? Courage.
What makes the dawn come up like THUNDER?! Courage.
What makes the Hottentot so hot?
What puts the "ape" in ape-ricot?
Whatta they got that I ain't got? Courage!Listen
to The Cowardly Lion

“Now
when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they
were unlearned and ignorant men, they marvelled; and they took knowledge
of them, that they had been with Jesus. -Acts
4:13

Fear
and faith are both contagious. That is something I learned from a lifetime
of athletics. It is the reason that people go to a football game, flock
to a NASCAR event, or watch the ‘daring young man on the flying
trapeze.”

The
internal battle for the heart, that something-special that makes a muskrat
guard his musk, that is what draws men to the battle. We all recognize
courage when we see it. Women are drawn to men who have it and men flock
to those who exhibit it.

Nowhere
is this more apparent than in the world of sports. The two-minute drill
in football, the last-second shot in basketball, and the last-lap victory
at Daytona are the moments where heroes are made.

It
once was the American way; A living out of the Scripture “greater
love has no man than this than he would lay down his life for his
friends.” It was not the actual dying that is so captivating,
but rather, the willingness to die, that exhorts men to higher achievement.

The
cowardly lion innately understood it…”what makes a King
out of a slave”…nothing touches the heart of man as
much as a sold-out act of courage.

Jesus
was the ultimate hero. He HAD to be the Son of God. What is the old
line about Him…”He was a liar, a lunatic, or Lord”…has
there ever lived a greater example of courage than the man from Galilee?

I’ll
never forget the afternoon of 9-11 as I sat like so many others, transfixed
by the events of the day, in front of my TV as history unfolded. Nothing
impacted me more that day than the act of bravery displayed by the firefighters.
Against all human instincts they willingly ran into a building that
everyone else was running out of. It was the Christian-ethic playing
out before us…greater love has no man than this…the
faith of our fathers…the Christian ethic that built this nation.
But that character-trait is rapidly disappearing in this nation.

Christian
men have become cowardly lions. Most won’t even stand up to their
wife and children. They are vanishing from participating in “church
activities,” opting instead for the excitement of sports where
they can vicariously live-out courage through the lives’ of the
real men they see living out “the thrill of victory and the agony
of defeat.”

The
Church no longer believes in victory, but capitulation. Modern-American
Christianity teaches that God is somehow more glorified through defeat
than He would be through victory. A defeatist attitude subtlety promoted
from the pulpit intimates that to “turn the other cheek”
was a commandment to become a floor mat for the rulers of this world.

As
a wise man once said silence isn’t golden, it is yellow.
Our Christian leadership are toothless lions, afraid to offend, afraid
to speak the Truth, afraid to take a stand. Their passive, live-and-let-live
attitude towards things that are antithetical to Christianity has produced
a nation of wimps. Christian men no longer guard their musk.

“You
scare Pastors,” I had a pastor friend tell me one time.

“I
know.” I answered him. “I challenge them. I hold
them accountable. They know I am listening to what they say. I won’t
let them turn me into a sissy.”

Without
courage words are meaningless. There is a great disconnect between the
God they say they serve and they way they serve Him. I serve a conquering
King. They serve one who capitulates to the opinions of men.

My
friend Jim tells me that we can’t do it without the pastors, that
they are the key to mobilizing the church. I appreciate his efforts
to drag them into the battle, but I don’t have time to change
their diapers. All things Christian are under assault in this country.
The response of “God’s Generals” is plasma TV’s
and louder praise and worship music.

"Last,
but by no means least, courage - moral courage, the courage of one's
convictions, the courage to see things through. The world is in a constant
conspiracy against the brave. It's the age-old struggle - the roar of
the crowd on one side and the voice of your conscience on the other."
-General MacArthur

Does
your pastor speak out against the godless public school system? Does
he tell his sheep to get their children out or does he dutifully support
the schools undermining of Christian values?

Has
your pastor encouraged you to get involved with the debate over the
defunding of Planned Parenthood? Has he compelled his flock to more
actively oppose abortion? Has he engaged your church in the battle for
“personhood for the unborn”?

Does
your pastor speak the truth about Islam or does he believe it to be
a religion of peace, implying that Jesus has no problem with Mohammed
or his followers?

What
is his position on sexual sins? Does he speak against “shacking
up”, fornication, divorce, pornography, homosexuality, and for
modesty in dress? Is there any form of church discipline for those who
violate the standard he sets? Does he set a standard and hold to it?

Can
you picture him doing anything that could be considered “civilly
disobedient” or does he believe that the Christians are to blindly
follow the edicts of government, even when they fly in the face of what
the Bible teaches?

Does
he encourage men to be men or is the “Men’s ministry”
nothing more than get-in-touch-with-your-feelings-self-help-effeminate
Christianity?

Have
you voiced your concerns or do you “go along to get along”?
Are you going to demand that this leader of men, lead men? Tell him
to stop singing and start fighting.

All
of the problems that we face in America are moral. Every one of them.
The failure of “the Church” to be the “salt and light”
has permitted immorality to gnaw like a cancer at the moral integrity
of America’s people. Silence is complicity. Salt stings, it is
a corrosive.

I
hear a lot of talk these days about our need to “reclaim America,”
or “reclaim our government,” or “take back our country.”
I say it is time to reclaim our churches. Until we do, our nation will
remain a rudderless ship adrift on a sea of moral sewage.

People
love to complain about Obama acting like a dictator…that no one
holds him accountable. What’s
the difference between the average pastor and Obama? Is the church a
dictatorship or a Republic? Your response will explain why they call
us sheep.

So,
what about you? What is your excuse? What is it that separates you from
the cowardly lion? Are you too afraid to challenge the oligarchy in
your own church?

Do
you sit silently in your church while a “different gospel”
drifts out of the pulpit? Are you silent as you watch the “youth
group” become nothing more than entertainment by Christian-secularists?
Do you obediently pay your “tithes and offerings” while
the church leadership squanders the money on salaries, benefits, and
a “more attractive atmosphere” for seekers? Have you permitted
the use of power point projections to replace individual Bibles in your
church services?

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“I
do believe in ghosts, I do believe in ghosts, I do, I do, I do believe
in Ghosts.” -The cowardly Lion

“It
is only in this way that we can hope to arrive at truth, and fulfill
the great responsibility which we hold to God and our country. Should
I keep back my opinions at such a time, through fear of giving offense,
I should consider myself as guilty of treason towards my country, and
of an act of disloyalty toward the Majesty of Heaven, which I revere
above all earthly kings.” -Patrick
Henry

Stand
up and speak up. Now is the time for courage. How we respond right now
counts forever.

Coach Dave Daubenmire, founder
and President of Pass The Salt Ministries www.ptsalt.com
and Minutemen United www.minutemenunited.org,
is host of the high octane Pass The Salt radio show heard in Columbus,
Ohio.

In 1999 Coach Daubenmire was sued by the ACLU
for praying with his teams while coaching high school in Ohio. He now
spends his energy fighting for Christian principles in the public domain.